Creation
by half-a-recess
Summary: This is a fic about my version of how the undernet was created.  What if Dr. Hikari sr. created more than he thought ever possible when he set up the network?  Comments, questions, chriticizm, etc. are all welcome. Ratings may change but probably not
1. Chapter 1

**Creation**

_**By, half-a-recess**_

**>>Disclaimer: Okay, okay, I admit it; I own nothing. It is all Capcom. Don't sue! I only wish very much that Burusu-kun or Enzan-sama belonged to me (but they doesn't ;;). **

**>>Before we begin: There may end up being some character that I own. Be patient if I don't update. Don't hate me if I don't review to your story (read my profile/bio thingy for an explanation). I'll try to mention special thanksez when I update. This is a story I'm writing because my brain squeals and backs into a little corner when I try to work on The Day's End or my summer homework… blegh… Many thanks! **

**h-a-r: waves wand frantically**

**harry: turns into a gnome**

**h-a-r's wand: giggles and shoots green sparkleys**

_International Scientific Research and Development Center (ISRDC)_

_Müchan, Germany_

_January 12, 2018_

_3:21A.M._

"We need more power!" Dr. Tadashi Hikari demanded the scientists gathered in the room. Most of the said scientists were running around like madmen, the rest rapidly typing in lines of code, and Dr. Hikari's commands roaring above all the chaos that was the International Scientific Research and Development Center did nothing to improve the situation besides sending more lab coat-clad scientists scattered amidst the crowd.

"If we give it any more power it'll permanently damage the main generator!" exclaimed the scientist placed with the rather hectic and stressful job of Dr. Hikari's main lab assistant. He trembled as Dr. Hikari turned to face him. Dr. Hikari was often a kind old man, reminding many who met him of Santa Clause, with his long white whiskers and full waistline. However, those people rarely, if ever, saw him in this mood of pure determination that always marked the birth of an invention that would change the world.

"More power, Mikhail! If we do not have enough power, we won't even get this project lifted off the ground," Dr. Hikari replied with a strange fire in his eyes. He turned back to face the hustle and bustle of a mess below the open observation deck on which he stood. "This new form of the internet will be like no one ever imagined—like another world, Mikhail. I wish to make the world a better place. I failed in that attempt already once before and paid dearly for it." He paused and clutched something in his pocket, something he never went anywhere without. "More power," he said in a lower tone, only half turning towards his fellow scientist who followed his order this time, signaling to another scientist at the control panel to override the computer's warnings and go over the level.

As predicted, the generator malfunctioned, sending computer screens exploding everywhere and causing scientists to stop in their tracks to look towards the only light which glowed in the center of the room. Even without electricity, the hologram generator in the center of the room still functioned, being run by the project that had obviously come to life. The hologram showed a paneled floor consisting of mostly a blue grid pattern, much like the kind that could be found in the current day video games, on top of which was a city with tall buildings.

---

_Cyber Universe_

_January 12, 2018_

_3:21 A.M._

An explosion rang out through a blank and empty space in between dimensions. Land appeared and collided in milliseconds, throwing dirt and desert sand together haphazardly until at last there was only an endless wasteland, crumbling under the nature of its accidental creation. Data particles floated unconcernedly over gorges and piles of sand and rock. Everything grew just as peaceful as it had been before, just as still and uninhabited. But then…

A light glowed brightly and faded leaving behind a teenage boy kneeling in the dirt and examining his hands with an expression of almost disbelief. He was wearing armor that was mostly red, and after further examination he found that there were crests on his chest and gloved hands, each simply dull silver and empty. He ran a hand through his short hair now looking at his surroundings. The dark sand stretched on forever with a little patch off to the west that appeared to be the remains of a stone building. How curious it seemed that there would be only a speck in the distance of possible civilization, and yet there came the eerie feeling of being watched by something invisible.

Curious—and a little wary—of what else might live in this strange place, the boy stood up shakily and began the journey to the west, hoping that whatever he might find would not be harmful.

---

_International Scientific Research and Development Center (ISRDC)_

_Müchan, Germany_

_January 12, 2018_

_3:24 A.M._

"It—what is it?" someone asked through the darkness, though it couldn't be certain who.

"This is our city," Dr. Hikari said proudly, now ground level and walking ever closer to the three-dimensional hologram. "Or this is, rather, what it is translated to the cyber world that has just been created."

Whispers traveled through the dark, some excited, some worried, and still others that were almost disappointed at the sight of so many years of research and work only resulting in a simple hologram of the layout of the city.

"Of course, this is only displaying our city," Dr. Hikari explained to some of the more confused scientists. "Inside the internet and everything that is electrical, there now exists another world. I have given a whole new meaning to the internet, and if I am correct—forgive me if I'm wrong—we can fix the power outage by simply working with this hologram."

Even as Dr. Hikari spoke his fingers played with a master keyboard connected directly to the project, making the hologram's view move through the city until it came upon the building they were all positioned in. Remarkably, the internet had already caught on to the fact that there was a power outage in the building and was offering a repair program, which Dr. Hikari selected. Seconds later everyone was blinking in the light that had returned, and the whirring of the undamaged machinery was heard once again. Dr. Hikari smiled and walked out of the door positioned behind him. After so many sleepless nights, a little rest and a healthy breakfast would be nice.

---

End chapter 1

Auther's notes: so how was it? Questions, comments, criticism, requests?


	2. Chapter 2

**Creation**

_**By, half-a-recess**_

**CHAPTER 2**

**BEFORE YOU READ!! (please?):**** To avoid confusion and all out bafflement of my new character who just so happens to have the same name as a character owned by Capcom (I nearly fainted with shock and almost attacked the computer screen when I found out…) I own the character that I made up! Her name is Trill (no, not the little baby Navi from Beast). For everyone's information (and so that people don't call me a copycat), I made this character and came up with her name WAY before the info on the Beast series was posted on Rockman.EXE Online (which is the main place I really check up on). I thought her up like, what—six or seven years ago? So don't nag me on it, cuz it's really difficult to change the name of a character that I've been attached to for so long and who I had imaginary adventures with during those boring history classes. Trill has always been there since when I first got into the series, and that's the way I'd like her to stay (I have witnesses of this strange name occurrence:3)! Please don't hurt me… just review maybe? I might even be open to new name suggestions… help please and I will be forever grateful…**

** Disclaimer: you know the stuff. Don't own. Only wish that I do. ALL HAIL BURUSU-KUN, ENZAN-SAMA, AND FORTE-SAMA!!**

**h-a-r: Nooo! Daniel has turned into a gnome! Hurry, Rupert, you can fix it!**

**Harry the gnome: (chews on his own toe)**

**Ron: (jumps up and down, turns in a circle, and waves wand like a mad banshee)**

**(Harry turns back into a Daniel and Rupert turns into an ostrich)**

**h-a-r: Why must I be a muggle, God, WHY?!?!?1 (brandishes wand like a saber and does a little dance)**

**h-a-r's wand: (sneezes and shoots blue… stuff I guess… yeah, stuff)**

**Ron: (turns into a platypus)**

**h-a-r: okay, folks, this is gonna take a while…**

_Nation of the Abyss_

_Cyber Universe_

_January 12, 2018_

_3:38 A.M._

Gale, a small black and orange Navi watched the speck in the distance draw slowly nearer as she twirled her red curly hair around one finger. It was only minutes ago that this new region appeared right on the doorstep of her fortress, which at the time had been on the very outskirts of the Navi universe and the capital of the Abyss, more commonly referred to as the Edge for its… previous location next to a massively degraded drop-off. Now, however, it was only the edge of civilization. This newly-made land stretched on for hundreds of miles, most likely, and there were sure to be strange new viruses formed from the obvious pieces of loose data. Now the Edge was truly bizarre-looking in that all vegetation (little though there was at the Edge) came to an abrupt halt. Perhaps there would never be vegetation in land so unstable?

Gale continued to play with her hair and cocked her head only half-interestedly over her shoulder, though never taking her eyes off of the distant speck, as a tall, lanky purple Navi carrying three shields, one on each arm and another slung across his back, spoke.

"It goes on for hundreds of miles with an end in only one direction," he said. He paused. Such strange occurrences are difficult to understand, much less describe. Finally he continued, "It ends and turns into a land of a more stable nature filled with many great cities, some surpassing even our own. The land there is strange to me, but it doesn't appear to be a threat; there are no Navis whatsoever."

"There must be some life for there to be cities, Arrow," Gale said quietly.

"Yes, that did bother me, but although we searched quite thoroughly no matter how quick we were to get in and out, the cities are deserted. I agree that there must be intelligent influence and that this wasn't an accident or the cities at least; however I don't think we need be so anxious. I don't think the… whatever it is even knows of our existence."

Arrow followed Gale's gaze to the figure barely illuminated by the pale moonlight still making its way towards them, only slightly closer now. "And what do we do about him?" he asked, nodding towards the speck, though he was positive Gale wasn't even looking at him.

Gale stopped playing with her curly red locks and folded her arms across her chest. "Report him to the Mark," she said absentmindedly.

"Oh, you don't honestly think the poor boy is a—"

"Report him to the Mark," Gale repeated her voice low and dangerous. She turned to face Arrow, the red jewel on her helmet glinting in the moonlight. She continued in a flat tone before Arrow could make any further argument, "Regardless of what you think, I gave you a direct order, and as was strictly established in your training, which I am confident that a Navi of your rank and intelligence can remember, when given a direct order by your commanding officer, you will follow it. Now, report him to the Mark."

Fuming, Arrow glared at Gale before straightening up to his full height, which made him now alarmingly taller than the small orange Navi. "Have you been consumed by your power so soon?" he spat. "Or have you, perhaps, forgotten your own past?" Catching a small defiant flicker of anger in her eyes that were almost always emotionless these days, he fell into a mock bow saying, "Oh, as you command," before turning on his heel and disappearing in a purple blur of speed into the halls of the fortress, leaving Gale to her thoughts again.

It was not that she thought this strange Navi to be anywhere near a threat to such a strong kingdom such as the Edge, but perhaps he would answer some of the questions that were sure to be raised by the Mark who were basically the leaders of the Abyss. Within the hour they were bound to inform the Grand Council, the wisest and oldest Navis all of whom were elected by the leaders of the Nine Nations, which was made to control extreme situations such as this one that could greatly effect and possibly jeopardize the world.

The tiny speck in the distance became increasingly difficult to see with the approach of dawn throwing everything under a misty grey cloak. He would be here within a couple of hours if he didn't turn around and decide that this was not where he wanted to go at all considering the fact that he seemed in no hurry to get to the fortress. Hopefully word of him would have reached the Grand Council by then and they would have reached a decision as to what to do about both him and the new cities, and Gale would be very patient until that time.

_The problem with Arrow_, Gale thought, _is that he is infuriatingly patient, a little too patient come to think of it, and that he's always had a tendency to think that his opinion is more important than anyone else's._ He was such an old fool, yet it was very interesting to think that he had survived for such a long time, much longer than most could remember, actually. Some very popular rumors claimed he was even older than some who were in the Grand Council, but his refusal to rise in rank kept him out of eligibility for being elected. It seemed as if he was avoiding being elected, which was even more interesting because of his desire to give counsel to whoever became his next commander.

On the same subject came the mysterious manner in which every time his commander refused to listen to him they turned up deleted or missing, yet no evidence ever suggested that he had ever harmed them… _Am I next?_ Gale thought absentmindedly. No, she shook her head. Arrow was never like that as far back as Gale could remember. He was always… something or other… She could almost remember the way he always was, but…

Even still, how dare he insult her like that? She could remember her past perfectly well… Everything was just a little fuzzy; that was all. She could remember seeing Arrow's face. He had been purple at the time because of the full moon so the date must have been after the AIWP (Artificial Intelligence in Warped Programs) Experiments. She could still faintly hear his voice talking to her. She could hear herself say what must be his name. Gale was positive that she was not saying "Arrow", yet she couldn't hear what she was saying only that she was calling… something… She could now see Arrow's lips moving, calling her name, not Gale… but something… _something_… She could almost hear the words when her head began to hurt. When she opened her eyes she found herself leaning heavily against the stone wall gazing at the small, dark speck again as the sun came closer to making its entrance over the desolate horizon. She let herself slide slowly down the wall and onto the hard stone floor, fighting to catch her breath as she realized that she could no longer remember her own name…

---

_Fortress of the Abyss_

_Cyber Universe_

_January 12, 2018_

_6:15 A.M._

Somehow, things didn't go as the boy had planned. The second he got within range he was captured and thrown into a cell where he waited quietly, thinking of what horrible trouble he had gotten himself into. Next he was taken to the "Great Council" or whatever it had been called where he was asked all sorts of questions that he didn't have even the slightest clue on how to answer. Everything was blurred together so much that he didn't even realize until this very moment that he was being led down a dull gray and blue hallway by a small Navi in a blue jumpsuit which had a light blue racing stripe down the right and left sides, light blue gloves and boots and a relatively plain blue helmet that had three raised stripes on it of the same color as her boots, gloves and stripes. The crests on her hearing receptors and chest were filled with a horizontal wavy line of mostly blue hues that made her bright green eyes stand out from the rest of her and the soft brown hair that fell out of her helmet was only decorated with a single blue streak on the side.

"I—I didn't catch your name," the boy said awkwardly, trying to find some way to break the silence.

"Trill," the girl said smiling kindly at the boy walking beside her. "And I didn't catch yours either."

"I—well… You know," the boy stammered, trying to figure out why he was having such a hard time. Luckily Trill gave him an understanding smile that enabled him to relax a little.

"It must be pretty weird not having a name," Trill said thoughtfully.

The boy nodded, no longer afraid, but still thoroughly embarrassed.

"Well, why not think of one now?" Trill said a little playfully turning around and walking backwards in front of him with a broad smile on her face. "Let's see, you're dressed in red and your symbol is… well, um that's not going to help…" she said looking him over and finally realizing that he had no symbol whatsoever.

All of a sudden Trill halted, nearly making the nameless boy run into her. "Okay, look this is your room," she said flipping up a panel on the wall beside a door labeled "1414". "And this is your pass-code;" she handed him a slip of paper "you can use it to get through any door in this facility so it'd be best to memorize it. It's all yours and… well your roommate's, of course. Um, then again this probably is all yours considering that your roommate is hardly ever here…"

"Oh? Where is he most of the time?" the boy asked, now a little happier that he had an interesting roommate. Maybe he would have amazing tales to tell in the dead of night when he came back to the room to sleep?

"Well… I don't really know. No one _really_ knows, no matter how many claim to have information on the subject. Maybe he spends all of his time in here? Well, I don't see why, because it's not really that roomy…" she said apologetically as the door slid open and she led him into the room.

The boy looked around at the tidy apartment-like bedroom. There were three cots: bunk-beds and one against the wall adjacent to the bunk-beds and opposite the wall with two desks separated by a lamp stand, one desk spotless, the other crowded with piles of papers and small objects. A small kitchen and table peeked out through the half-open door that was beside the desks and there was another door on the far side of the kitchen that probably led to the bathroom. The best feature, though, was a very large window through which Trill, the boy and at least three others standing abreast could have easily walked upright if it were open. The window was placed directly beside the bunk-beds and was decorated with shimmering silver curtains that were slightly transparent and sparkling in the early morning sun, and they swayed ever so lightly and noiselessly as if a soft breeze had entered the room.

Trill brought a hand up to her hearing receptor apparently listening to a voice that the boy in red could not hear and finally said, "Well, I can't stay any longer. You're free to move about, and you'll find your way around on your own, I'm sure, but just kind of ask around if you have questions and—oh, I almost forgot something really important!" She gestured to all of the things on the cluttered desk, "_Don't_ touch any of his stuff if you know what's good for you and for the love of God, _never_ sit on the top bunk—that's his bed—and he's kind of touchy about the curtains, too… They say that's why roommates don't stay roommates with him that long if you get my drift."

She broke off in mid-sentence and her hand flew to her ear again, "Alright, alright, I'm on my way! Geez, what's your problem?" She ran quickly out of the room and down the hall as the boy followed for a few steps.

"Just don't be a stranger! Get back to me on that name thing, okay?" she called, turning around only briefly to give the boy a wave and a smile, but eventually leaving the boy standing halfway in the hall, hand still half raised with a confused expression on his face.

Somehow, the halls of the fortress seemed much more exciting than the room with the cot and the constant temptation to touch things that were supposedly off-limits. How unkind it was of them to stick him with a possibly dangerous roommate when he was this new to the world. Obviously they had gotten all that they wanted out of him at the Council… thing considering that they were now showing sudden disregard for his life, however short. _ Well_, he thought as he walked quite deliberately out into the hallways with no real destination in mind, _just in case, I better at least get a name and meet some people or something interesting…_

---

_Residence Area: ISRCD, Hikari Residence (Room 26)_

_Müchan, Germany_

_January 12, 2018_

_6:15 A.M._

_Dr. Hikari ran along the narrow hallways of his home labs, falling continually and rising slowly even in his desperation to continue. As he tripped for what seemed like the hundredth time and struggled to push himself to his feet again he heard it: the insane laughter of the unknown person that was chasing him. Dr. Hikari began to panic, but the harder he struggled with the floor, the worse he lost the battle. Flames and explosions sounded around him as he managed to roll over on his back and call out for help as loud as he could, though it only came out as a hoarse whisper. _

_"I'm coming, Papa!" a voice exclaimed as a young boy with messy, dark brown hair ran past Dr. Hikari and into the flames and let out a scream of terror before being drowned out by the roar of fire._

_"N-no, come back! It's too much for you!" the old doctor whispered with all his might, failing all the time to make any louder sound._

_"I'll go," said a voice behind him, louder than the flames. He didn't even have to look to know it was his eldest son. _

_"And I'll go too," another voice said. And the doctor only caught a glimpse of his daughter's blonde hair as she disappeared, and couldn't even lift an arm to reach out to stop her no matter how he fought with his invisible bonds. _

_He wanted to tell the other not to leave, that it was too dangerous, but the voice interrupted the struggled whispers that wouldn't even pass the doctor's lips anymore, "Let's finish this…"_

_Dr. Hikari met the concealed eyes of his eldest son for a split second before the red-clad robot sprang to life and lifted the old doctor, throwing him out of range of the flames and explosions. As he was falling Dr. Hikari managed to catch the last sights of his son: the glint of a microchip in his hand, the flash of his visor in the red hue, and the fluttering scarf as he whipped out of sight into the flames. _

"_NOOO—_

---

—OOOO!"

Dr. Hikari woke with a start, sitting up in bed and grumbling as he freed himself from the covers that were tangled around his legs. He mumbled small curses at himself as he made his way to the thermostat.

"No wonder I'm sweating," he muttered, furiously pressing the down arrow.

It hadn't even been three hours and he was awake and alert. He thumped over to the sink, clutching the leather pouch tightly as the cold tile shocked his feet in a soothing way compared to the heat of the dream. He looked at himself shakily in the mirror as he splashed water on his face and it trickled down his long white beard and onto the floor with a soft drip. The labs were gone and the house demolished, the robot lay dormant with the microchip hard at work, Wily was gone and hadn't reappeared for many years, but the dreams kept haunting Dr. Hikari even in this time of peace. He had all of this peace that his family died to give him and he couldn't enjoy it… They wouldn't have wanted for him to feel this way, but it didn't change the fact that he did.

Rock, whose battered body was found later with only the memory chip in tact, Roll, whose death was the only one that was painless and quick and who couldn't be repaired because the memory chip had been stolen (by heartless thieves sifting through the wreckage no doubt, or else news reporters looking for amazing footage of the attack), and Blues… Only bits and pieces including a large chunk of his scarf were found. They had accomplished their mission and died for it, placing a vaccine chip inside Wily's robot and then placing the robot in a stasis capsule, and none of them thought twice, none of them even looked back.

Dr. Hikari removed the pouch from his pocket and began to study the contents one by one before replacing them again. He laughed as he stared down at the slightly singed picture inside the broken fragments of a tarnished silver frame. Roll was holding up Tango in an awkward position, which the cat was obviously not pleased about. Rock was completely oblivious that his picture was being taken and stood, as always, attempting to get Rush's attention with an old knotted sock, whereas Rush found Tango's tail to be much more interesting. Blues, who had miraculously been home during the photo had refused to take off his armor and most certainly not his visor and chose to look at Rock wearing his typical, crooked half-smile. Dr. Hikari appeared to be tripping over Rush and trying to get all of his children to look at the camera, yet laughing at their indifference to his fruitless attempts, except for Roll, of course, who was always very photogenic.

Dr. Hikari smiled once more before placing the family photo tenderly back into his pouch and taking out a large golden locket as he rubbed his thumb lightly over the engraved "R" on the cover. He knew not to open it because of all the little pictures of everyone, even Wily and the Wily-bots, all of the family carefully stuffed inside. How Roll managed to fit all of them inside without spilling them each time she opened it remained a mystery, but that was one of the many talents of Roll.

Next, Dr. Hikari removed a strip of yellow cloth rolled around a small, silver whistle-like flute only about three inches long or so, untarnished from use of an everlasting polish that only Blues knew of. How Blues managed to play the instrument with his large hands, no one would ever know, but still one must wonder about the places this cloth and this flute have seen, what adventures they have witnessed, what secrets they could tell…

Finally, out came the last and the most carefully handled object, wrapped in tissue paper so that it would never be damaged. The chip containing all of Rocks most prized possessions and the secret to his success for so long: his memories. All of Rock's love and kindness, his bright and happy personality and his love for life and living things, all of this was contained in this little chip in Dr. Hikari's palm. The doctor nestled the chip back into its sheltering pouch which he held up close to his chest, and as he breathed deep and slow he could have sworn he heard their laughs just outside in the garden back at the lab… way back when…

---

End Chapter 2

Author's Notes: You like? Questions? Comments? Concerns? Requests? Yeah, longer than my first one. If you want you can email me with **name suggestions** for **"the boy"** or even a **new name** for **Trill** (though I will forever think of her with that name… sob Darn you, Capcom). Also, it took me a while to update because I finished the Harry Potter book drool. Best thing I think I've ever read and an amazing finish to the series. I cried. Then I was kind of out of it for the next few days, you know, to reboot after the shock of finishing it…


	3. Chapter 3

**Creation**

_**By, half-a-recess**_

**Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah I regret to announce that I do not own these characters (except for my Trill—I owns her and will attack anyone who steals her with an Ice Bear—grrrr…) Sigh… Such is life… **

**Umm… yeah, so feel free to hit me over the head, throw fruit, sic wild orangutans on me, etc. Like I said before, though, I apologize in advance for not updating as often as I should. Oh, and over the holidays I will hopefully be able to work some more on The Day's End. Maybe it'd help if I wrote it out by hand first… Ah, well, enjoy!**

**h-a-r wand: (vibrates whilst dispersing yellow silly string)**

**h-a-r: whimper **

**h-a-r wand: Hee-hee! .**

Ooooooooh! Special thanksez so far:

Well for this story, Marshmellow Dragon thank you for helping me! Thanks also to anyone who reads my stories and also thank you to all the other writers out there who let me enjoy my free time reading and writing fanfiction! Special thanksez will also appear on The Day's End as soon as I get that on the computer and posted. If you don't want your name on the specail thanksez feel free to email me and let me know!

**Chapter 3**

_The Undernet_

_Cyber Universe_

_May 10, 2018_

_1:03 P.M._

The boy in red wiped sweat from his brow as he jogged silently beside his comrades across the desert sand of what the Grand Council dubbed the "Outer Network" more commonly known as the "Undernet". It was four months after his accidental creation and the formation of the new world on the other side of the desert. After two months of preparation and training the team of fifty navis was ready to make the journey across the Undernet and into the vacant city. Finally the group came to a stop near a large pile of boulders.

"Hey, Red," the boy felt someone nudge him and turned to see Trill point in the direction in front of them to the East. "There it is. You can see it now, right there."

"How long d'you think it'll take?" Red asked as he sat down in the shade of one of the rocks.

"If Arrow doesn't stop us again, maybe an hour. It's strange; he's moving us at a faster pace than normal."

"He's anxious," came the voice of another navi. He was tall, wore a simple grey suit and plain helmet and had a long spear strapped to his back. "We haven't had any trouble so far, but the closer we get to the East City, the stranger the viruses will be to us, and our training doesn't include those viruses meaning we might have to learn some new things on the go."

"That's true, I guess," Trill said thoughtfully, "but wasn't this group specially chosen for this situation? Surely all of us can manage handling this. It's not like there are any navis in the city anyways…"

"Then why is it a threat?" Red wondered, mostly to himself.

"That's why," came an austere voice that made the three turn in alarm. Arrow took no notice of their being startled and simply nodded in the direction of the city on the horizon as gasps came from the group of navis.

The narrow line of grey and blue was widening and spreading as more buildings were suddenly erected out of thin air. The ground began to quake. Red lost his balance falling and receiving a mouthful of dirt and sand, and he quickly put his hands over his head as someone else tripped over him and fell as well. _I gotta remember to get them to make me a helmet…_ he mentally groaned as the shaking came to a stop.

As everyone slowly peeked out from behind boulders, there came one collective gasp from the fifty Abyssian soldiers. Red, curious of what was going on, lifted his head only to find his nose pressed up against the cold metal of a sky-scraper. His eyes widened in shock as he hastily stood and took a few steps backward. It was only then that he realized the strange blue panels that he was standing on.

"W-what is it?" someone asked through the murmurs.

"It just grew!"

"It's so big!"

"What made it do that?"

"What should we do?"

And then everything broke into a chaos as everyone began confused questions on this strange incident. It all came down to one thing. There was something that they couldn't see and it was creating these cities. Could it see them? Was it evil? On and on the questions went with people pushing and shoving to try and get off the blue ground.

"Red! Red!" he heard his name called by Trill. "Red, where are you? For the love of God answer me, dammit!"

"I'm over here!" he called as loud as he could over the ruckus.

"Where, I don't see you!" she called back, fainter this time. She was moving away. He couldn't get separated from her! Arrow had told them to stick with their partner _no matter what_. Arrow was going to kill him… again…

"Trill! I'm over here, come back!" he shouted, but she was already out of earshot even as he struggled against the push and shove trying to find her in the panic. He let out a yelp of pain as something rammed into the back of his knee, and then someone let out a scream and everyone started running and swinging weapons everywhere.

"What are they?!" someone exclaimed.

"Viruses, and lots of them!" someone else said.

Viruses… This was definitely not good. No one new what kind they were, and Red couldn't find his partner for the umpteenth time since he entered the service. Red shook his head and focused on remembering his training. He could not fall into a panic; it was a trap that would lead to a navi's downfall. He must find some sort of cover. He stood up again and slashed his sword as the same dog-shaped virus came charging for his knees again. Surprisingly, the virus went down with one sweep.

"The viruses here are weak," he told himself in an attempt to remain calm in the absence of his partner. "But that doesn't make them any less dangerous; they make up for it in numbers, so I need shelter from both them and everyone else," he muttered, noting how everyone's wild blows and shots could hit anyone at any time. Red looked at the doors to a building. It would be terrible work getting there, but he would be safe once he was inside. Taking a deep breath, he plunged into the crowd and ran making slashing motions with his sword and clumsily dodging his battling comrades. A pang of guilt went through him every time he accidentally nipped someone with his blade, though it couldn't be helped in the chaos, he remembered, as he caught a stray buster shot or two in the side.

Panting, he pushed open he doors to the building and ran inside as they slammed shut behind him. At first everything was dark, but then the entire room became illuminated in blinding white light. Red brought a hand up to his eyes as they adjusted to the lighting and let out a gasp, momentarily forgetting the battle just outside.

---

_ISRDC_

_Akihara, Japan_

_May 10, 2018_

_1:03 P.M._

Dr. Hikari happily clicked buttons on the main keyboard controlling the Net City as it was now referred to. Now that tests had been run for the public and more people were finding out about Net City Dr. Hikari was getting permission to expand it and send information to other SciLab locations so that one Net City could be made into millions, all connected and interactive. After five minutes of typing commands and connecting the program to the government issued layout of surrounding cities, the program began to run on its own making the cities come to life.

After the program had run its course Dr. Hikari was about to leave to get lunch in the cafeteria when he noticed a strange reading on the screen. His brow furrowed as he realized that they were program viruses. They had strange run-ins with viruses to which the program seemed to have given shape supposedly so that they could be distinguished from each other to people running it, not a function Dr. Hikari had given it, but still a handy one. Luckily, the old doctor had planned for these massive virus attacks on the systems until the labs could think up a more efficient way to get rid of them. The system worked by putting up fire-walls around all of the buildings in Net City so that any program except for viruses could get inside. However, this did not get rid of the viruses and left them to prowl around the virtual streets waiting for the chance that someone would hack into a system allowing them the opportunity to flood into the buildings. His eyes shifted to the SciLabs network where there was a blinking dot indicating there was data in the system. Curious of what it could be, he clicked on the spot and gasped, staring wide-eyed at the screen.

---

_Cyber Universe_

Red backed up, truly afraid of what he was seeing. Was this the being that made all of these great cities?

"W-who are you?" Red asked, mentally cursing himself for his shaking voice.

"You can see me?" the old man asked, looking even more shocked than he had been before.

"What do you want with us?" Red asked, sounding as bold as he could manage in the situation while trying the doors behind his back, which, as he expected were locked as soon as he had entered.

"What do you mean by 'us'? There are more like you?" the old man asked, now appearing curious and excited with a hint of worry tugging at his voice.

"We saw your city and we came," Red continued. Through his fear he hadn't remembered the danger of giving this information. Besides, this man, though strange and powerful, did not seem to want to hurt them in the first place. In fact, the man seemed to be completely unaware that there were other people living in this universe. "We traveled across the great desert—the Undernet. We mean no harm. We just—"

"What is that glowing spot in your side?" the man asked curiously.

Red looked down, noticing for the first time the wound that had been inflicted by the buster shots he had received. "I got hit by someone's buster shot," he replied, noticing the unreadable expression crossing the man's face. "Er, you know, from a _buster_?" he tried. Noting his lack of success he carefully summoned both his buster and his sword, making the man jump and look warily towards the weapons. "I use them to kill viruses."

Red must have spoken the magic words because the man smiled slightly and then asked, "You say you kill viruses?"

"Yes," Red answered, shifting uncomfortably.

"So you killed some of the viruses outside?" the man asked, getting more excited by the second.

"Well, yeah," Red said. "But I had to run in here for cover because there were so many. I don't think they can get in."

"And you're sure there are more of you?" the old man asked.

"Um, yeah, last time I checked, but they may have baled considering how overrun this place is with viruses," Red said, receiving a confused look. "Well, the viruses here are strange and all, so I don't know what Arrow's orders will be." Red stopped attempting to open the door, accepting the fact that he was stuck and had just gotten himself into a bunch of trouble with what might possibly be aliens.

"Are you a virus?" the man asked.

Red felt shocked and offended. "No, nor will I be associated with one. And you still haven't answered my question! I asked who you are, old man. Now I've been answering all of your questions, so you answer mine! Who are you and what do you want?"

The old man looked down sheepishly and said, "I'm Dr. Hikari and I didn't mean to offend you. You see, I created this project called Net City. I never dreamed that you—whatever you are—were here."

"Yeah, well, I want to go home now, so if you could direct me out of here that would be great," Red said, folding his arms.

"Oh, yes of course," Dr. Hikari replied kindly. "If you will just walk up those stairs in the corner I will tell you what to do next."

Red obliged, running there with what Dr. Hikari must have perceived as incredible speed. As soon as Red stepped onto the landing, though, a glass tube slid over him, encasing him so that he could not escape. Red's heart raced as he realized he had been tricked, and try as he might, he could not break the glass.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Hikari said sadly, "but I cannot let you leave quite yet until I know a little more. You don't need to worry, though. We won't hurt you."

After the panel displaying Dr. Hikari disappeared, Red continued to shake as he let himself slide down the glass into a sitting position. Now he was truly at Dr. Hikari's mercy, and not just Dr. Hikari's if there were more of them, which presumably there were. Red may have been pretty naive when he was in a panic, but he was no idiot. He knew that if there were more, they may not all be as merciful as this "Dr. Hikari".

---

_Cyber Universe_

_The Streets of Net City_

_3:25 P.M._

The army of Abyssian soldiers, panting and exhausted, slumped down on the ground in the thin shadows that the buildings provided looking rumpled and shaky. Though all of them found that they would like nothing more than to abandon the city with its strange blue floors and cold metal buildings and plentiful hoards of enemies and doubt, Arrow had not yet given any order to leave, but rather stood in the shadows of an alleyway contemplating what to do next. Even though his mind was elsewhere he still took notice of the small blue female navi that made her way towards him… _without her partner_. Arrow gritted his teeth feeling the day grow ever hotter knowing that Trill did not bring good news. _I'm gonna kill that kid if he doesn't kill himself first. _

Trill stopped a few feet from Arrow and saluted without saying anything.

"Again, Trill?" Arrow asked, cocking a hidden eyebrow.

"Well, yeah, kinda," she said, turning suddenly informal and friendly as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Shouldn't you be looking, then?" he questioned. "Not that _I'm _going to fry your tail, but there may be higher authorities that will."

"Tch, yeah, if she can remember who I am," Trill said, folding her arms. "Yeah, so how _is_ Gale, by the way? I haven't seen her in months, and I haven't heard from her in even longer. Sometimes I wonder if I should drop in to see if she's still living." She laughed bitterly at the last part.

"Worse than before," Arrow said shortly. "If you want see for yourself, just drop by. She probably won't remember who she does and doesn't want to see anymore as it is. Besides, you're changing the subject. Go look for the kid. All the chaos is over now; it should be easy."

"That's what I've come to tell you about," Trill said, standing up straighter. "I have looked. The place is deserted. I haven't even found so much as a _shoe_. My guess is he took cover somewhere and got knocked out—_again_—or fell asleep afterwards—_again_—or something dumb like that. He really does seem hopeless sometimes. Why are you bothering?"

"I think I know, but I don't think I can tell you," Arrow replied looking past Trill who turned out of curiosity.

Several navis were making their way towards Arrow muttering and with unhappy looks on their faces. The ring-leader of the group stepped forward and spoke.

"Since you're not making any decisions any time soon, we decided that we're going to try to at least do something useful and find the source of this," he said in a just-try-to-tell-me-otherwise kind of tone.

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Arrow said in a bored tone, leaning on the wall next to him for emphasis (_probably just to make them mad, _Trill smirked).

"Oh? And why not," the navi said angrily. "It's not like we're doing anything else useful around here. All we're doing is sitting around and waiting for this place to set more viruses on us. We're not gonna sit around and wait to fight again and again just because you say so, so give us a good reason to stay or we're leaving."

"Well, there is none," Arrow said with a sigh. "Or at least, there isn't a proven, solid-ground explanation, unless of course you listen to my word alone, which might not be the best thing sometimes because _everyone_ is wrong occasionally. But if you _were_, to take my word this time, I would say quite confidently that I am right and that in this instance you had best take it, and it is this: I believe that the being that is watching us can actually see us if he really wants to, but at the moment is unaware of our being here at all. Therefore, it is only logical that we stay put and do only good in destroying the viruses so that we do not appear to be a threat if we are discovered, and in staying put we may be overlooked altogether. I actually hope for the latter and would rather you stay, but if you truly wish to leave, then I will not make any attempt whatsoever to stop you."

"Well, let's assume this, oh great fortune-teller," the navi said sarcastically. "Let's assume that whatever's out there already _knows_ that we're here, _has_ seen us as a threat, and _did_ send those viruses after us. That's the advice _I'm_ taking. Maybe you should listen to it."

With that, the group of about fifteen or twenty set off with purpose toward what they must have determined the center of the city.

"You're just letting them go and ruin it all?" Trill asked, knowing there was more behind the situation.

"Bait," Arrow said firmly as he pushed himself off of the wall. He walked out calmly into the remaining navis who were all chattering, unconcerned. "We're heading to the farthest western edge of the city," he addressed them all, and then sprinted off, knowing they would follow. Soon enough he heard some frustrated groans and then the sounds of forty or so feet sprinting in his wake. _The kid'll be okay for now. I'm sure that now we'll find him _very_ soon._

---

_Net City/ ISRDC_

Red brought a shaky hand to his eyes as he was so rudely plunged from pitch darkness into light for the first time in two hours. Hearing whispering all around him, he begged his eyes to adjust faster in order to feel slightly safer. The minute he lowered his hand, he wished he had remained blinded. They were _everywhere_ surrounding him. He hadn't known when he stepped into the building that he was being watched by so many of these armorless navis. All he could find to do was gape at so vast an army surrounding Dr. Hikari.

"See how lifelike he is?" someone from the crowd asked, astonished.

"Hush, everyone, so that I can speak," Dr. Hikari said, quieting the crowd immediately. "I'm old, you know."  
"Oh, never," someone laughed.

"Only a little over the hill that's all," someone else interjected to laughs and statements in agreement.

"Er, a _little_ over the hill?" Red questioned, mostly to himself, not realizing he was talking into silence as the group had quieted down. As soon as he recognized the questionable looks he was receiving, he covered his mouth feeling his face turn a shade of red that would put his armor to shame.

"Ah, at least there is someone that is truly honest with me," Dr. Hikari chuckled, smiling kindly at the navi. "Perhaps it is because you are not so disappointed about my retirement as they are." He gestured to a man standing next to him who had slightly messy brown hair and glasses. "This is my son, Thomas. All of this will be his when I leave."

"All of this is… yours?" Red asked his heart racing at his sudden realization. All of a sudden he dropped to one knee and bowed his head low saying the only words that came to mind in his embarrassment at his foolishness. "Forgive me. I did not know that I had been given the honor of conversing with the king of this land."

"King…?" Dr. Hikari looked confused before he and the rest of the people broke into uproarious laughter. After a while, things had died down and everyone remembered the poor navi who continued kneeling with his eyes tight shut at his embarrassment. "Ha ha, stand up my boy; I am no king!"

Red obeyed and was glad to feel a little bit of the heat in his cheeks disappearing, though he did notice all of the people scribbling on clip-boards. He was a bit shocked when he saw Dr. Hikari and his son walking towards him.

"I am no threat," Red said awkwardly when they stopped their advance. "You could let me out of this case, you know."

"Oh, no, it is not that simple," Dr. Hikari said shaking his head. "You see, you are no more tangible in this world than a hologram. We may see and speak to each other, but neither of us are tangible to one another. However, that does not make us any less the same."

He rested his hand on the outside of the glass and locked eyes with Red. Red hesitantly brought his own hand up slowly until his fingertips lightly brushed the smooth sides, but let the hand drop almost taking a step back.

"Ah, I understand," Dr. Hikari said, still smiling kindly.

"You're the reason," Red said quietly.

"Hm? What other trouble have I caused?" Dr. Hikari asked with concern.

"If we are no more than holograms in each other's worlds and you don't really know how to interact with ours nor we yours, then there is really no harm in getting a few things clear on both sides of our situation so that we may understand one anther better, right?" Red asked half-heartedly. He knew perfectly well that they would not be willing to let him go until they got the information that they wanted, but Red needed information, too. Since he was fighting this battle on their ground, he would have to make them feel the need to give him the information he wanted before expiring his leverage. "So why don't you start?"  
"Why us?" Dr. Hikari asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"You're a smart man, Dr. Hikari," Red said, keeping eye-contact so as not to be distracted with the scribbling of pens on clipboards. "I think you know perfectly well that I'm not talking until I have some answers."

"Ah, true enough," the old man nodded. "Well, er… I don't believe I caught your name, though."

"Red," the navi said shortly, silently urging the man to continue.

"Thank you," Dr. Hikari said rubbing the back of his head before continuing. "Well, Red, as I have already told you, what you have been exploring in your world is a project that I call Net City. Essentially it is a proportionate—well, according to you, life-size—replica of the real world, or the world that has always been real to us—the human world. I built this city to be directly connected to our own using an international system that was already connected—the internet. It is a large network of databases, information, games and more that connects everything in the world together."

"Kind of like one of those big webs that I got stuck in one time that a gigantic Spinnora 3 made," Red replied thoughtfully receiving some more questionable looks. "Er, well a virus that kind of looks like a spider."

"Wait, if you live in there," inquired Thomas thoughtfully, "do you have the same animal life and such?"

"Well, we have two different things from what I know," Red said. "There are animals and viruses. The animals can be tamed for the most part, but the viruses are rabid and will attack anything, mostly working to destroy everything, but Arrow hinted once that some viruses can actually be tamed or trained and I have been told that some of them are even good, so I'm guessing it all depends about what kind of situation you're talking about."

"Hold on, you're guessing?" Dr. Hikari asked suddenly.

"Well, um to tell you the truth," Red confessed looking down at his feet in embarrassment, "I'm probably not just the best person to ask. I mean I haven't really been here that long…"

"How old are you exactly?" Dr. Hikari cut him off.

"Well, I'm about four months old now so I don't exactly know all of the—"

"Amazing!" someone exclaimed. "Incredible how he has so much knowledge and has aged to about seventeen years old in just four months! Dr. Hikari, sir, do you think that they have a very short growth span—"

"What's the matter?" asked Red who was confused about the mumblings of excitement he had just caused. If anything he had expected more tones of disappointment than happiness.

"Calm down everyone so we can understand a little bit," the old doctor said over the commotion. "Exactly how are you 'created' as you say?"

"Oh, well of the many things I have had to learn, I found out that baby navis can be born from a male and a female navi, or in other cases navis can be created from raw data kind of like in my case," Red said. He would have gone on about how the raw data he was formed from resulted from the creation of the Undernet and how somehow he was programmed with certain basic knowledge as well as uncommon knowledge, namely his fighting skills. True, he had to go through training, but combat somehow felt familiar to him, like all he was doing was refreshing his memory by attending the training sessions. But there was no need to tell these humans anything that they didn't need to know, only enough to make them happy and have a need for him. Somehow he got a strong feeling that he knew exactly what this particular culture did to things different from themselves that weren't of any use anymore.

"We only have the first way of doing things," Dr. Hikari smiled. "In fact my son and his wife, Haruka, are expecting twins very soon." At that he motioned to a plain, but beautiful woman whose belly was swollen with the tiding of children and who was standing next to Thomas.

"_Giten lithlína_," Red bowed, smiling at her. At some questioning looks and a giggle from Haruka he continued. "In the ancient language it means, almost literally, Giten's blessings."

"_'Giten?_'" Dr. Hikari asked.

"Oh, yes! Surely you know about Giten," Red assured them. "He created the earth and rules over the afterlife with all of the honorable souls of the dead who are able to enter eternal peace. There is some controversy, but I've come so close to deletion so many times that I have no choice but to believe that he watches over me."

At this everyone began laughing all over again and for the second time that day Red felt his cheeks begin to turn a bright red color. The last time this many people laughed at him had been when he asked where babies come from, which he admitted was much more awkward and embarrassing than the mocking of his blind faith.

And so the interviews went as the day marched on with humans and navi exchanged information. Although things remained calm and in good humor in scilabs, a group of fifteen navis whispered somewhere in the depths of Net City dangerous deals.

---

**End Chapter**

**Author's notes: SORRY!!! Tell me your thoughts; anything and everything under the sun. Gripe at me, throw dangerous and endangered species of large jellyfish and squid if you so wish. But please… review. I don't even care anymore if it's flames. Christmas makes me happy. Questions, comments, concerns. (suggestions? I'm ALWAYS open to them)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Creation**

_**By, half-a-recess**_

**Disclaimer: I do not own any Rockman.EXE characters or any characters from any other show, game or manga. That would be so freakin' cool if I did and maybe someday I will have a manga that I write, but it is not now. Thank you. bows**

**Yeah, I'm working on my I-can't-think-of-anything-right-now story in my spiral and I hope to get The Day's End updated pretty soon after I take care of… certain issues… coughboyfriendcoughbreakupcoughcough. I hate being the initiator of the separation, but I suppose it could be worse—I could be on his end of the situation. Ah! ENOUGH DRAMA!! You didn't come here to hear about drama; you came to hear about Red and what happens to him! So here we go!**

**h-a-r: poking toadstool with wand**

**toadstool: growls and barks like a Chihuahua**

**h-a-r: Ah! Link, kill it! PLEEEAAAASSSEEE!!**

Special thanksez so far:

Marshmellow Dragon—thank you for helping me with my predicament, for being my first reviewer, for making me excited enough to write future chapters! You don't know how happy you made me! Thank you!

Necklace of Raindrops—I deffinately enjoyed your review! I'm so happy that you read my story and hope that you continue to read it! After seeing your review my brain began working again on contemplating where to pick up on the story! Thanks bunches!

Serenade of Light—I literally jumped for joy when I saw your review (my little sisters are my witnesses)! Thank you very much for taking the time to review to my story! I hope very much that I will not let you down! I'll try my best! Arigatou! (is that right? I'm not good at Japanese) P.S. You caught me completely off guard!

**Chapter 4**

Red's mind was racing. Everything was so exciting! Red had to find out about his creation by pestering Trill until she got annoyed enough to tell him the entire story, but even still he had no idea that he was connected to Net City and the Undernet this much. In fact in a way he had to be a part of Net City just as the Undernet was. Perhaps that was why he got to contribute to this mission. Arrow, who as Trill had explained didn't talk very much at all, had actually suggested that he was the one who fought all the way to the Grand Council in order to get Red on the list to explore Net City.

Red suspected that Arrow knew something that Red didn't and that Arrow was purposely withholding that information, but either way it didn't matter. Now Red was finding out all he needed to know, and somehow this all seemed so familiar… It felt like he knew all of this at one time but forgot all of it in a millisecond, the same way he felt about learning fighting skills. The strange dreams and the ghostlike memories that kept coming back to him like strange familiar shadows in a fog only made him ponder more about the true nature of his existence.

These were the kind of thoughts that Red was having in the nanosecond that it took him to be transported into the large, grey rectangular room. Now he faced the tests.

---

"This is not just a test on a virus-blocking program, Mr. Hammel, sir," Dr. Hikari told the ISRDC manager. True, the labs belonged to Dr. Hikari as did many of the projects conducted in them, but the organization was run by Mr. Hammel, a tall, dark American brunette with salt and pepper hair and a hard exterior. Mr. Hammel continued to watch the monitor on which was displayed a boy dressed in strange red armor who was standing in a dull grey rectangular room. Dr. Hikari continued, "This, my good man, is a virus–_destroyer_, a program that can analyze complex situations and take necessary action to actually _obliterate_ viruses with means of provided weapons." Dr. Hikari knew that this man was all about objects that would grant power, and the only way to help Net City was to appeal to the man's hunger.

"Very well," he said in a bored manner. "You may begin the tests."

---

The first group was simple: a group of Level 1 Metool viruses. Still, they would get annoying if left to their own devices, so Red leapt swiftly over their shock waves and made a long horizontal slice, destroying them in one blow. No sooner had he done that than a group of viruses he had never encountered before appeared. They looked like jellyfish, so Red took a wild guess and went with the assumption that they were water-type and again hit them with his sword.

"This is mildly interesting, though I do not see the point in putting in graphics like a video game," Mr. Hammel said, resting on his cane.

"Inserting graphics would have been a waste of precious time and money," Dr. Hikari replied, turning towards Mr. Hammel and watching him carefully. "That is why I didn't insert them."

In a manner of disbelief the man turned back to face the screen as he watched Red narrowly dodge a spider-like virus that nearly dropped from the ceiling on top of the him before he destroyed it with the quick shot of an arm-cannon. The boy seemed so life-like as he drew deep breaths.

"What do you mean, you didn't install the graphics?" the man asked.

Dr. Hikari mentally sighed. He had hoped he would be able to avoid these questions, but he did have to tell the whole truth for the most part. "Apparently, these are not 'graphics', but rather they are the actual form viruses take. Or is it virii…"

Mr. Hammel ignored the old doctor's trailing statement, used to his thinking out loud about random things. "Do you mean it is like the video telephone?"

Dr. Hikari almost laughed at the words "video telephone", but caught himself as he remembered that not only were there significantly fewer of these new types of phones that transported sound and video at the same time in the U.S. than in Japan, Mr. Hammel was American (obvious in his thick accent) and that was the only way to describe his thoughts to a native speaker. Instead Dr. Hikari replied simply, "Yes, I suppose that is quite an accurate assimilation."

"Then this means that we look into another world, yes?" Mr. Hammel asked, almost bursting out of his emotional shell in his excitement, but remaining on borderline.

Dr. Hikari winced at the foreign accent and use of less proper grammatical structure which grew thicker by the second with the man's energy, but luckily the man never noticed the wince as he was much too infatuated with the computer monitor to do more than process the words that Dr. Hikari was feeding him. "That is what Net City is, Mr. Hammel—another world that connects directly to ours so that we can fix and protect ourselves. Everything happening in the internet happened through means of text, but now things have become visually true. Things have switched from one dimension to three."

"Yes, yes," Mr. Hammel replied distantly.

_You just barely wriggled out of that one_… Dr. Hikari thought to himself.

---

This wasn't too hard. Most of the viruses were of a kind he had never before encountered, but many were low-level and quite stupid compared to those of Abyssian territory. He had been taught by Arrow in private training sessions (which were always random and mysterious considering Arrow didn't "give a damn" about mostly everyone) that viruses were vicious or sly or quick depending on the type, but rarely, if ever, were viruses completely stupid. This logic was different in Net City where a virus would stand still and almost allow a Navi to delete it because it couldn't think of anything. On top of that, in this pace if a Navi ran away after attacking, the virus was very likely to forget that the Navi was ever there rather than looking to destroy its attacker. Where Red lived for the past four months viruses were to be taken seriously, not like here where they seemed to be things that one played with like cats with mice. _Like humans with Navis._

Red angrily brushed the random thought away like so many other hateful thoughts that would pop up or the sudden bursts of rage in the pit of his soul, both of which he fought very hard to keep hidden, but the more he attempted to keep them at bay, the more often they happened. All of a sudden a spider virus dropped from the ceiling and Red dodged it, narrowly avoiding one if its sharp claws. But as he brought his sword through it he began to feel strange and everything went black.

---

"What's happening? I can barely see his movements anymore," Mr. Hammel said, leaning so far forward on his cane that Dr. Hikari thought the man might fall into the computer monitor, but seeing as the man showed no signs of losing balance, Dr. Hikari focused on the issue at hand.

"I honestly don't know," the old doctor admitted. "Perhaps we should wait and see what happens. It may be a glitch that we will have to work out of any future models."

"Future models?" the man asked, eyes still wide with greed as he continued to watch the invisible and wild slashes that split virus after virus in half with a hard-working computer attempting to continue generating viruses at a fast enough rate to keep up with the rate of destruction.

"Yes," Dr. Hikari nodded. "I believe it would be best to begin creating these programs to serve humans on the internet. Each person can have a personal Internet Navigator, or NetNavi as they would be called. That way we could actually end up making money on this project. Perhaps we can even alter their personalities to prevent them from going out of control due to their complex nature. Ah, come to think of it, that would make more people buy them in the first place, wanting a custom NetNavi for their child—a custom friend…" Dr. Hikari drifted off, his eyes twinkling as he imagined that these beings would actually be appreciated for bettering society. But then again, Dr. Hikari also wished for a utopia and such things could not be so in the real world.

---

_Red ran along narrow corridors looking for something. He couldn't see himself, but it was definitely supposed to be his body. Flashing light and screaming alarms indicated the facility was in trouble, and though he had no idea where he was headed, his body obviously did as it carried him purposefully through automatic doors and flashing hallways, down stairwells and down rumbling elevators, across gaps and through holes that used to be walls. He was getting closer. There wasn't much time left. He jumped over a dark pit that gaped like a mouth attempting to suck him in and almost succeeding as he slipped and almost missed the other side, barely landing on the edge. He wouldn't let anyone know he almost fell to his death, though. It would take away from his image. Why couldn't he run any faster? He mentally cursed God with all his might at his misfortune as he continued on, begging for something to boost his speed. Why couldn't the clocks just temporarily slow down and give him more time? He must find him… _I must find…

---

Red gasped awake. The viruses had stopped appearing and he was utterly spent. He had never had any of the dreams in that much detail. Often they were spliced things that made no sense as a whole. This one was logical. And it happened when he was awake. He almost shivered at the feeling of being in some other body. Then, the silence was broken by the sound of alarms and the flashing of red lights.

"Red," Dr. Hikari's voice said. Red turned to look at the newly formed floating monitor. "We're being attacked in the center of the cit_y_ and it has caused a blackout in almost the entire northern half of the city! If it isn't stopped soon, it will spread and the human world will be in great danger! I'm sorry to have to ask this of you, but there isn't any other option. Can you stop it?"

"Yes, I think so," Red replied not wanting to let the kind doctor down, though he really had no clue as to whether he could put an end to it by himself or not considering he had not even seen the situation. "But I am lower on energy that I would like," Red admitted, slightly embarrassed at having to ask for energy during a crisis like this.

"Oh, yes," Dr. Hikari replied. "I found out from the data collected during your battle the when things are deleted on the Net they sometimes leave behind concentrated energy, correct? Well, I also discovered how to collect this energy immediately in the moment of a virus' deletion to make it in concentrated form. Here, try some."

A large green capsule appeared beside Red and he turned to stare at it in awe as he stood in its green glow. He had come across this energy before, but they were small capsules about the size of minibombs. This one was almost as tall as himself and when he touched it he felt as though he could go through ten more testing sessions, for he had not refilled on energy since before the run across the Undernet.

"Now I will warp you to the trouble point on one condition," Dr. Hikari said as Red straightened up.

"Name it," Red nodded to the scientist.

"You must return here when you are done," the doctor said.

"Or else what?" Red asked neither threateningly not rebelliously.

"Or else I will face grave consequences," Dr. Hikari replied, meeting the eyes of the Navi.

"It will be done," Red answered, bowing before he felt the familiar sensation of being transported to another area.

When Red was gone only Dr. Hikari's lonely monitor was left, hovering a few feet above the ground. He hoped with all of his worth that Red would come back. Not only would the Navi be able to teach them so much, and not only would they have at least one friend from that world, but his secret of being sentient would be kept safe. Red had no idea, but the idea of something other than a human being having free will and intelligent thoughts was extremely debatable and even feared by most humans. Luckily, Dr. Hikari tended to surround himself during these projects with scientists who were either completely open to all ideas like those, or people who firmly believed it was possible. He clutched the pouch in his pocket for reassurance. He would never again allow a sentient being to be so emotionally scarred, so afraid of their own emotions that they withdrew from the world, or doubted what they fought for in the end, or watched it all happen not even sure they were feeling the sadness and the pain. Sometimes a protector needed to be protected.

"Be safe," he whispered before the glowing window disappeared, leaving nothing but the flashing lights in a dull grey room.

---

Arrow slipped silently through the narrow alleyways between the skybound buildings hearing nothing but a small whisper of the presence of the other thirty-five Navis who darted through similar pathways nearby. Arrow brought them to a stop holding up his hand and waiting as the silent message was passed around. He beckoned Trill to come closer so he could talk.

"Has Trace recovered enough yet?" he asked the female Navi.

"Yes, he thinks so," she replied. "We just have to make sure this is the right building before we enter. Stealth will only be easy for him in one shot; otherwise we might be detected immediately upon entry as other systems become aware that there has been an entry."

"Right, have Sonnet search for his track—"

"Sonnet is with the rebellion group," Trill said, though she was more interested with scraping off the spot of lime green nail polish that she had painted her nails with earlier that day when the group had stopped for a break.

"Trio?"

"Absent."

"Matt?"

"Nope."

"Anthony?"

"We _have_ no Anthony, sir," she said, giving him a strange glance. She only said "sir" in an I-call-you-sir-because-you're-male tone rather than one of respect. Of course this was the tone Trill tended to take with everyone because she treated even her enemies with a friendly and casual manner. If it wasn't for her charm and the way she displayed her emotions and flaunted her use of body language, she would have gotten in trouble many times over with the Grand Council, but naturally no such thing happened to her.

"Just seeing if you were paying attention to me," Arrow replied.

"Since you always have to be in the spotlight," Trill countered, still trying to coax the bright polish off the side of her finger without messing up the rest of her nails.

"Lime green?" Arrow cocked a hidden eyebrow. "Really, Trill of all the colors you could have picked, you chose _lime green_?"

"Yes, I did!" she shot. "I have the right to wear any color of nail polish I want! At least I have the sense not to wear bright pink!" She made a face at the mention of the color on her.

Arrow reached over and tugged on a strand of her hair as he stood up. "Go get Trace. I'll check if this is the building for sure."

"Yeah, yeah," Trill muttered as she brushed the offending hand away. Then she turned on her heel as she set off through the narrow alleyways at a silent jog.

Arrow walked out into the open area near the building. Well, nothing was shooting him, so that meant that either Red hadn't alerted the security systems, or there weren't any. _What am I thinking? I'll just go ahead and admit it-- it's the latter._ This would be so much easier if there was dirt or sand of some sort, but the strange blue tiles showed nothing, not even scorch marks of the battle earlier as the city had already regenerated. As he scanned the area he realized that there was an anomaly. All of the buildings should have shown up on the scan as green because they were made up of regular data and regular systems. This building showed up as purple, indicating that the systems had a significant amount of data inside and it was made up of different data altogether—the same type as the Undernet. This mystery data was normally found deep in the farthest reaches of the world and made things by itself. In a way the data was almost sentient. And the Undernet was made of it, giving the landscape the ability to change form all the time and move every so often like a person in its sleep. It was like how the ocean was alive as one being that was made up of others. Sort of like God—Gitten—although this data belonged to him as well like the ocean. _Hmm… Interesting, but better stay on track…_

Strangely enough, this building, into which Red was said to have gone, was made of this strange data… The same data that Red was made up of, in fact. Arrow was not sure if anyone else was able to see mystery data, but he strongly hoped that no one could. Red's secret must be kept secret even to him. The Grand Council certainly had the idea that Red's data contained a large amount of secrets behind the Undernet that could only be explained if his memories could be accessed because even though Red had no clue, his id—his inner-mind that knew the full truth about him—held the key to many things that the Grand Council wanted answers for. Luckily, they had not made a move, so Arrow had some breathing room and thought that maybe they wouldn't think of examining Red's mind.

As for the building, there didn't seem to be any signs of Red entering it, but then again there didn't seem to be any signs of anything in this place. Even if Arrow observed the data spilled by wounded Navis it wouldn't really help. In the Abyss he could always track Red after a battle by traces of the strange data that he left behind because his data didn't seem to have the will to bond with the network, but everyone's data seemed to bond to this place and help heal it like a black hole pulling in everything that floats randomly, bad or good, because this place was made of neither; therefore it was made of both. Still, this had to be the building that Red entered because if Arrow was correct—and he certainly thought so with confidence because confidence in his first impulses often made him right—when Red was searching for cover (which he did often) he must have unknowingly been drawn to this building in particular because his soul sensed it to be the safest place seeing as their data was the same. That hunch would have to be proof enough, Arrow realized as Trill was making her way back, tugging on Trace's ear. Arrow sighed, this would get interesting.

---

Red heard the explosions and the clank of swords on metal as soon as he materialized in between two buildings in the city's center. Certainly there must be some higher-level viruses in order to make this level of devastation. Readying his buster cannon he slipped carefully towards the noise in hopes that he would be able to pick some of them off before he was forced to approach them as a group.

"It isn't even fighting back, this is too easy," a voice said.

Red froze. Viruses couldn't talk. They had no language.

"Tch!" came another from nearby. "I would have enjoyed a little action!"

They were Navis… Net City didn't have Navis, so they must be a part of the Abyssian force, but what were they doing attacking the city? It made no sense they weren't supposed to be attacking it. Furthermore, this would take more than just cheap buster-shots. Navis were capable of intelligent thought and would realize where they were being attacked from. To destroy them all it would take skill and speed, which Red had, but the problem was so did they, and to further the problem many of them probably had more than Red. Although Red was a fair fighter and not really a Navi to be taken lightly, he was quite lacking in experience whereas most of the other Navis on the team had a lot to brag about in that area. Not only that, but Red had to take into account that he was obviously outnumbered and that he would be a traitor if he attacked them. Still, they were attacking Net City and somehow it… hurt him. He could feel in the back of his mind a panic at his only link to finding out the truth disappearing before him. There was no question of whether Red would go through with this. He had no choice.

Taking his chances he stepped out into plain view of all the Navis. They numbered around fifteen, some of them standing on the ground shooting at a large glowing cylinder which was suspended in the air, but most were leaping at it and striking with their swords sort of making it into a sport. All of a sudden a green-clad Navi which had scaled a tall building and jumped over the power source, slicing the top of it on his way, continued sailing, unaware that his jump was aimed at another Navi until it was too late. It happened so fast, Red didn't realized what he had done at first.

"Woah, watch out!" exclaimed the Navi, Alliance, Red briefly remembered. Without thinking Red replaced his buster with a sword and swiftly sliced vertically, cutting through the Navi's insignia. The Navi disappeared in a shower of blue data and everyone turned towards the newcomer.

"…Red?" one of the Navis asked. "Where've you been? Arrow might get worried if you don't find your way back to the group."

His tone was not friendly. It dripped with malice, and even though the Navi did not move towards Red he did ready his sword threateningly. Red had never liked the Navi, whose name was Brach. It was something about that buff figure that had practically no neck which made him appear as aggressive as he really was.

"Shouldn't you be headed back?" he ordered more than asked. Again his voice carried the cruel tone that Red despised. Red had always disliked Brach, and Brach had always disliked Red. It was an agreement they had from the first day in the cafeteria. Now, they were away from the watchful eyes of Arrow, Trill, and Gale, and there was no stopping them from letting lose. Still, Red knew that Brach would not fight him one-on-one even though Brach had a fair chance of winning. Brach liked to gang up on his prey and make a Navi pay for mercy.

"They want you to stop," Red said shortly.

"Hah! A little traitor!" exclaimed Brach amusedly earning some threatening laughs from the other thirteen.

_Traitor… Traitor… A traitor is what you are and what you will always be…_ Said a voice in his head that he didn't recognize. _No, _Red thought back, feeling slightly dizzy. He had never heard someone else's voice in his head other than his own. _I'm not a traitor… I'm not…_ The voice replied, _Yes, you are… and you know it… Show them. Betray them… You must. You must show them… yesss… You must. Show them. Betray. YOU MUST!_

"What's wrong? Did I hurt your feelings?" Brach taunted.

"Stop, no…" Red moaned, grasping his aching head. No, this was not the way he wanted to take care of this!

_DESTROY! BETRAY! YOU MUST! KILL! SLAUGHTER! DEATH IS YOURS TO COMMAND! KILL DESTROY SLAUGHTER KILL DESTROY SLAUGHTER…_

Red didn't even realize what he did, nor did he have any remorse. His eyes became pits of anger which carried nothing but hatred in their crimson depths. It wasn't his body. He couldn't think, speak, or control anything. All he could see was through tunnel vision. One moment Brach was standing taunting him, the next Red was upon him, a sword piercing the insignia. As everyone stared in shock Red allowed the once powerful body to fall to the ground like a rag doll, and then Red's body performed an unspeakable act. He held out a hand and grasped the splitting data and willed it so strongly towards himself that he absorbed it, adding it to his own strength.

---

_Red dashed through the long corridors with the flashing lights once again. He must find Him. He must. But everyone was dead or dying dead… all dead… And whose fault was it?_

_---_

So slow… they were all so slow, these Navis. Ignorant in the ways of battle. They were defenseless. They had no strategy. They could not dodge, parry, defend, attack like he could. They never stood a chance. Another sweep. Gazelle was gone in a shower of blue cubes. She belonged to him.

---

_His… The fault was his… He could not warn them. He could not help them. None of them stood a chance. He should have been there, but he was not. He was out following fake leads. He had to find Him… He could not be dead like the rest._

_---_

So simple. Killing was so simple. In fact, it was comical how simple it was. Red had never thought of something so funny in his life. He began to laugh and laugh. It was not his laugh though. It was strained and crackling and maniacal, like something transmitted with a terrible signal that didn't quite come in. Two sweeps. Six more Navis fell. Seedpod, Mika, Splitter, Charley, Pat, Shaze… all his now.

---

_But these people are my friends, Red thought. Stopping in the middle of the hallway. This was the first time he could control anything, even the thoughts of this body. "No," the body spoke to him. Yet again this was a first. The person whose body he shared in these visions had never spoken to him before. "Your friends are dead," he said coldly. "All but one of your friends are all gone. He may even be gone. If we don't find Him soon, He will be gone for sure. You are no one. You have no friends, no purpose. You were made out of war and for war. Now you have lost. There is no reason to live. Except for Him. You must find Him. Even if you have no more purpose in this world, He does. And you will give Him that chance."_

_---_

"Wait, but who…" Red began, but he found he was in his own world again. Suddenly he felt drained and sick at what he had just done. This was taboo. He could feel nothing but disgust. As he grew weaker he finally fell to his knees, bent forward and retched. Panting, he realized, though it still shocked him, causing him to heave and gag at the very thought, that there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. He wouldn't tell the others what he had done. He couldn't. What would they think? Trill would never speak to him again. It hurt him just to think about it. She was the first real friend he had, and he could lose her in an instant over something that was beyond his control. She would be disgusted at the sight of him. So he wouldn't tell them.

Red stood shakily and prepared to activate the link back to the Science Labs. In the nanoseconds that he glowed with a white light before disappearing he came to a sudden realization about his truth. He had no idea what he was. He was not a Navi at all. He was not even a monster…

What was he?

---

Gale opened her eyes. Where was she? This was an odd place to be. The room she was in was quite grand. It was clean and classical and roomy, yet it had a sort of modern set to it making things seem strangely out of place. Perhaps it was something about the metal panel of a door that gave it all away or maybe it was just strange because none of it was hers. Well, she thought, maybe some of the things in there were truly hers. She couldn't remember three days ago. Little did she know, she had the same experience seven days before that, three weeks before that, all trailing back to four months ago when things started getting really bad.

Gale could not remember her own name, but she did know she cringed mentally when those people that knew her called her that. Nothing in this set-up was right. She was not where she was supposed to be at all. There were too many things she was supposed to be doing that she apparently usually did, but lately she had neither the energy nor the memory for her work. Arrow… Somehow that name stuck in her mind. She didn't know why, of course, but when she woke up three days ago he was the only thing that she could remember relatively clearly. Both the name and the person greatly annoyed her—the name more than the actually person, though they were almost evenly matched in her dislike—but he was the only one who came to actually visit, to check and see if she was improving any, if she was comfortable, if she needed anything from the market while he was out, if she was clean (that was awkward and embarrassing every time he asked), not to deliver papers that needed her signature.

So, naturally he was the only one she trusted. Often when she thought of him it seemed like she remembered him from a strange dream she had once had, but then again she could never remember any of her dreams at all, so why would the memory of him stick with her? Unconsciously she began to fold the covers of her bed. Then, wrinkling her nose at the thought she stripped it of its sheets and dumped them down the laundry shoot. Taking in the scent of fresh sheets from the cabinet she made the bed all over again. After all, what else was there to do? The room was as clean as it would ever be, there weren't any papers to sign anymore, and something told her it would be a while before Arrow would come back. She could only hope her memory would hold out until then. She sat on the bed and watched the sun set as she twisted her locks of red curly hair around her fingers.

---

Red's data particles reassembled themselves inside the networks of the labs where he had first talked to all of the scientists as a group. Of, course this new sight that greeted his eyes made his stomach give an uneasy jolt, but he managed to fight it back down though he did visibly flinch. Instead of standing inside the glass tube from before, he landed in a room with a life-size screen of the human world. And in this room stood the army of Abyssian soldiers with Arrow standing front and center, his arms crossed and a deep frown on his face as he stared Red down. Suddenly Trill popped up and broke the tension temporarily.

"Well, it's about time you showed up!" she said, crossing her arms like Arrow.

"Ah, I…" Red began, but soon trailed off under Arrow's intense glare.

"I have already been informed of the situation," Arrow said flatly. "Dr. Hikari and I have been enjoying a nice long chat while you were out… taking care of the rebellion group. Tell me, Red, did you have fun in those little tests that they ran?"

"I, uh…" Red muttered as he looked at his feet. He knew the question was rhetorical, but he still felt he should fill the gap in the pause. Red kept praying over and over in his mind that Arrow had not mysteriously found out about what exactly happened in the battle with the Navis. Who knew what would happen to him then?

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it," he said furiously, though his voice remained calm, "Cuz you're sure in for hell when you get back."

Red squinted his eyes shut and bowed his head in shame. "Y-yes, sir."

"What were, you thinking? You could have been killed! Of all the irresponsible things you could do, you just chose to throw your life away like that!"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you even realize how lucky you are that these humans didn't terminate you immediately? What if we couldn't find you? Of all the things, really! Come on, kid! Use your head!"

"With all due respect, sir," Red muttered, "can you continue to yell at me _after_ we get home?"

"Oh, yeah, sure," he said as he threw his hands up in the air. Red had never seen Arrow act like this. When Arrow was angry he got violent, but he was acting exasperated. It was almost like he was nervous. "Oh, sure we can talk if we _get_ home!"

"What?" Red asked in a shocked tone, forgetting formalities.

"Oh, yes," he said tapping his chin, "did I forget to tell you that you walked in right in the middle of a negotiation?"

"A negotiation?" Red asked, beginning to feel dizzy.

"Yes," Arrow said, taking a step closer towards Red. "We are attempting to negotiate for our freedom. Look what your stupidity has cost us."

"I…" Red couldn't even look Arrow in the face and simply held his head in shame.

"Please, Arrow," Dr. Hikari said tentatively. "I did not say that Mr. Hammel would not let you go for sure. Please, let me see if there isn't something I could do! I may be able to fix this. No, I'm sure I can! We can think of something—"

"Silence, human," Arrow snapped. "How is it that you can never seem to keep to yourselves? This 'Mr. Hammel' is not taking any of us!"

"Actually," a voice said as a dark-haired man stepped from the shadows. "That is not your call. You see, I run things here and I decide what does and does not happen. Either one of you stays or none of you go. That is my final answer."

"I will not abandon any of my soldiers," Arrow growled.

"Loyalty," the man said quietly. "What would a simple program such as you know about that? You have neither feelings nor emotions. You are made up of advanced data that can make decisions, but you will never be alive."

Trill took a step forward, ready to prove the man otherwise, but Arrow threw out an arm to stop her.

"I will stay," Red said suddenly, causing everyone to stare at him. "I caused this whole mess. This is my fault. I will be the one to pay the price."

"No, you won't," Arrow began, but Red cut him off.

"This is my doing," Red said shakily. "Let me take responsibility for it."

"No, you won't be staying here," Arrow repeated in a tone that said 'don't argue with me or I'll tear you apart and feed your bleeding remains to a spikey virus'. "Because I will be the one to stay."

Red's head snapped up, and gasps and angry murmuring came from the group of Navis at this suggestion. "No…"

"Trill, take them out through the north end of the city and you know where to go from there," he told the small blue Navi.

Clearly he was not accepting arguments of any kind. Trill looked smaller than ever as she sadly nodded to him. Red couldn't help but notice how strangely delicate and feminine she appeared all of a sudden—so small and breakable.

"I will," she said quietly. Then catching Arrow off-guard, she reached up and pulled him into a tight embrace, pulling him down again to kiss his cheek before fully breaking apart. She stepped back and her eyes never left Arrow as she logged herself and all of the other Navis into Net City. Red could not believe that this would be the last time that he might see Arrow, but in his heart he knew that it was probably true. Trill never would have kissed Arrow whether it be on the lips or cheeks or even jokingly on a hand no matter how much she longed to and no matter how much everyone, including Arrow, knew that she wished to. She would never have professed her love of her commanding officer to anyone, especially to said commanding officer. But Trill had done what she would never do. Therefore, Arrow would not be coming back. These were Red's only thoughts as the last of his frame pixilated out with all of the others.

---

**END CHAPTER 4**

**AN: Ummm… yeah, so I stopped putting the date and time and place because to tell you the truth I got tired of it. I'm thinking that maybe it brings away from the storyline just a little bit. I began putting them in the first chapter because I felt that it was necessary for the reader to understand that these things were all going on at once, but now I really don't have much need for them because the dates and times will kind of take care of themselves now. I'll bring them back if it bothers anybody that they're gone, but otherwise they're permanently gone. I don't think I'll go back to change the other chapter formats to fit this one unless someone tells me that they would like that. **

**So, yeah, how'd you like it? I hope I haven't let anybody down yet! Well, besides the fact that I have been so long in updating the story. If everything goes as planned I should have the next chapter up faster than I did this one because I already have some idea of what I'm going to write. Ah, the early hours of the morning do suit me well. Even though I think I have the idea of what comes next, I'm still open to opinions and ideas! This is not something that has to go in one straight line (not that it is anyway)! I'm always open to these things and my ideas can change very easily. Oh, and I forgot to mention this: Just because I'm lazy doesn't mean that I won't go back and change things in previous chapters that anyone feels really should be changed because I will if someone really wishes it! Thanks muchly!**

**Questions? Comments? Concerns? Suggestions?**


	5. Chapter 5

Red woke with a jolt. How long had he been asleep? He examined his surroundings as the events of the day before began to return to him. He seemed to be in a large cavern that showed an opening at one end that led to the Undernet which was currently cast in the bluish shades of near dawn. Everything that had happened seemed like such a blur, but the hard facts remained.

Arrow was being held prisoner in Red's place.

Red gritted his teeth. This whole situation was his fault, and there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it. Not only was he a traitor to his entire race—for lack of a better term of course since the Navis were the people to adopt him and because he was at least Navi-like—but he was a cannibalistic monster who was being chased for the crimes that he couldn't help but commit. He felt hollow and miserable as he let his head sink to rest on his knees. It felt like he was sharing his body with some foul demon that took control of his moments of personal weakness, and Red could not help but wonder what might happen if he were to lose himself completely—if he were to eventually _become_ the demon… Or worse, what if this monster was the real being and he was just clinging to the hope that he was not a monster.

Red shook his head to rid himself of the horrible thoughts, though he did hug his legs a little tighter. Another realization had just hit him. He was all alone in the cave when he should be accompanied by the two female Navis who had traveled through the curtains with him. Had they abandoned him? Surely they had out of fear that he would consume them like he had done his other former comrades. But then a figure appeared in the cave entrance and Red lifted his head hopefully.

"It's a good thing you're up. We all need to decide what to do next, so come on outside," spoke Trill in a quiet voice.

When she had retreated back outside, Red stared at the place she had stood in slight disbelief. Suddenly he remembered that the two other Navis would be waiting for him outside, and he almost tripped over himself in his rush to join them, glad that he was not utterly alone. He did not care so much if they hated him, just that they had not abandoned him. He made his way out of the cave and found Trill and the other orange Navi sitting a little further down on the slopes of rock and sand.

"—both ironic and unsettling, but we can't deal with that right now anyways," Trill finished, and she looked up as Red came within earshot.

"Uh… Hi, there. My name's Red," he said towards the orange Navi after there had been a strained silence.

"I'm Gale," the small orange Navi said shyly, but still friendly.

Red's eyes widened. He had heard of Gale. She was a high commander of the Abyssian army, though why she was with them, he didn't know. She was actually a regular star of adventure stories around the base, though no one had seen her in quite some time. In fact, this was the first time that Red had ever laid eyes on her. He had always guessed that she was too busy to go out in public, but now that she was in the company of two wanted Navis and not attacking them, the facts began looking like a little more than not wanting to mingle with commoners.

"And now that introductions have been made," Trill sighed, giving a wave of her hand, "we need to get down to business."

Red opened his mouth to argue that he only had a tiny piece of an idea of what was going on, but was cut off by Trill saying, "Calm down. All in good time, which we don't exactly have by the way. Things will be explained as we go through this."

Sensing that he really should just shut his mouth and pay attention until asked to speak, Red did just that.

"Gale, how many days back do you remember?" Trill asked, turning to the orange Navi.

"Four," Gale replied simply.

"Hmm… It seems that these cycles might be over. We won't know for sure though until a couple of more days," Trill said thoughtfully.

"Forgive my interruption, but what cycle are we talking about exactly?" Red asked, still confused.

"It seems that Gale has been suffering from some strange and cyclical form of amnesia in which all the memories that she builds up are wiped from her system after a certain period of time. The period of time between memory wipes has been decreasing for a while. The last one she experienced was four days ago. And three days before that another one occurred," Trill explained.

"Wait, I thought you said decreasing intervals," Red said. He wasn't the smartest, but he knew the difference in decreasing and increasing. Last time he checked, four was _greater than_ three. Perhaps he had misunderstood.

Trill shook her head.

"No, I said it right," she insisted. "The memory wipes _were_ decreasing in the amount of time between. However, as you have just so kindly pointed out, this time ruins the pattern. Hence the reason that I believe that the memory wipes will now either go away gradually or disappear altogether. This might mean that Gale will recover some of her older memories."

Gale smiled a little at the thought.

"Oh, I guess that makes sense," Red said. He wanted to question further things like what caused the memory lapse, but pushed it in the back of his mind. If it was important, he would find out in the information Trill was about to give to him, and if it wasn't he could always ask about it later.

"Now, as to why Gale is here with us when we are so obviously running from the authorities," Trill said, "is another matter entirely."

"For some reason, though I am not certain as to why, I think that I would have been taken into custody if I had not escaped with both of you even though I have no memory of conspiring with anyone or committing any serious crimes," Gale said, looking off into the distance as if she believed her memories to be somewhere over the horizon waiting to be recaptured.

Trill nodded grimly.

"You haven't, but there is something that we all have in common," Trill explained.

"In common?" Red asked dumbly. So far, none of this was making much sense.

"You see, none of us are originally from this world," Trill answered.

"Come again?" Red asked, unsure of whether or not his ears were playing tricks on him.

Trill turned to face him fully with serious regard. "You heard me correctly. Now let me tell you a story which took place a very long time ago…"

OOO (flashback)

Trill wandered through this new and strange world observing the barren landscape. No songbirds like she had encountered in other worlds were residing here. No animals. No people. In fact there were no signs of life, the only sounds coming from her boots scraping dirt and knocking small windworn pebbles aside. This world had to be inhabited, she knew, because she had seen the cities in other areas. However these peoples tended to live in tight groups to fend off the monster 'viruses'. But there were no viruses here, no people, no anything.

This is why the anomaly in the not-so-far distance struck Trill as interesting. She approached what seemed to be no more than a gap in the scenery, a tear in the dimensions of this world. And it was through this gap that she could hear faint voices, so quiet they could be whispers. Trill grasped the frayed edges of the tear and gingerly pried them apart so as the peer inside.

;;;

Blues held his side as oil continued to seep out as synthetic blood. Subduing the rogue robot who had destroyed Rock had taken a larger toll on the red robot than he had anticipated even with Forte's help. Dr. Hikari was safe, and that was all that really mattered, but Roll…

"You couldn't keep out of this, could you?" he muttered to Roll's prone body through gritted teeth. Her sightless eyes stared dimly at her lower half that lay in the far corner, so far from the rest of her body. "I suppose everybody's gotta die sometime though, you know? I'm just glad it wasn't by core malfunction."

Seeing as Blues was currently sharing only the company of some dead robots and a capsule filled with a stasis robot, he was not expecting to hear another voice in answer.

"So you are still alive?" the voice said from the computer monitor.

Once Blues had overcome his shock, he answered, "In a sense I suppose."

"In a sense?" the voice asked with amusement. "Either you are or you aren't. What are you, if I may ask?"

Blues blinked behind his chipped and scratched shades. Dare he answer? If this was a potential enemy there was no way he could fight it on this low amount of power. "I'm a robot," he found himself saying.

"And you are breathing are you not?" the woman's voice asked again.

"In a sense," he answered, a little annoyed at the questioning.

A laugh came from the monitor at his answer, though he could not imagine why in this grave situation. "Yet again, you either are or you are not. If you are breathing, then I must assume you are alive still."

Blues did not answer, but he did allow a shudder of pain as sparks leapt from his wound.

"Can you stand?"

"What?" Blues hissed in confusion.

The voice answered, this time with more urgency and less amusement.

"I think I can help you, but I need to know if you can stand," the voice explained patiently.

Blues huffed, though his wound protested against the action. "I don't need your help. Just leave me be."

"Oh, but I think you do," the voice answered. "You seem… unusual." Blues looked toward the monitor voice in surprise. "I don't think your life should end here."

"Can you help Roll instead?" Blues asked after a moment of thought.

"Who is this 'Roll'?" the voice asked.

"I would die soon even if I weren't this damaged as it is. If you want to revive someone, your best bet is Roll," he replied, indicating the damaged robot before him. He only assumed that the person in the monitor could see him.

And apparently the person in the monitor could, because she seemed to understand him. "Very well," she sighed. "I will help you both, that is, if you can make it over to me."

Blues clenched his teeth and rose to his knees, ignoring all of the warnings flashing in front of his eyes. "Alright now what?" he ground out.

"Oh my, your body really is quite damaged," the voice observed much to Blues' annoyance. "Now I need you to retrieve that other robot's mind chip and connect it to the computer."

The robot hissed his discomfort as he slowly drug himself over to his fallen 'sister'. Carefully he flipped open a plate at the base of her skull and removed the large chip. It had sustained a little damage since Roll had received such a large blow to her head when she had been cut in half. He finally reached the computer and pulled himself up using the desktop, grasping several cables which fell down with him as he collapsed. With shaking hands, he snapped the mind chip to the cable.

"Alright it's connected," he sighed.

"Tsk, a little damaged, but I think I can work with this," the voice hummed.

"Where-where am I?" Blues heard another voice ask from beyond the monitor.

He couldn't believe his ears. "Roll?"

"Blues, is that you?" the Roll voice gasped.

"I hate to interrupt this touching reunion, but we haven't got much time here," the other voice said. "I need you to connect yourself to this computer now."

Blues fumbled with the mess of cables before finally pulling out the right one and connecting it to the access point in his chest. Gradually his breathing units ceased to function properly, warnings flashing a blaring red through the gathering darkness around his line of sight.

_Is this what it feels like to die? _he wondered. Nonsense. Dying would require one to be _alive_ in the first place, he realized with a last wistful sigh. Yet he still wondered if this was similar to what a human would feel at death's call. He often wondered where 'he' would go—where 'Blues' would go—when his systems finally ceased to function. He let his head fall to view the capsule containing a tall robot with yellow hair. With the chip Blues had implanted, would this robot awaken to a peaceful world, and be able to live in peace with that new world? Would this robot feel _alive_?

Blues ceased to wonder as he felt a pulling sensation and his eyes saw no more, continuing their eternal deathly stare at the stasis capsule on which was crudely scrawled 'Zero'. When his eyes next opened, he would be elsewhere with the mysterious voice.

OOO

"I still do not know what caused this tear, but I firmly believe it was my destiny to meet this robot," Trill finished.

Red stretched from his seated position. "And what became of these robots?"

"Formerly known as Blues and Roll, I think you know them now," Trill said, glancing at Gale still sitting beside her, smiling serenely at the sunrise. "Gale's malfunctions do not surprise me given how damaged she was when I received her data."

"And Arrow," Red finished thoughtfully, gazing in the direction of Net City where could be seen skyscrapers on the horizon.

Trill stood and folded her arms also training her eyes on the city buildings.

"Then what am I?" Red asked quietly.

Trill hummed to herself in thought for a moment. "I can only assume that you are formed from raw data caused by the collision of these two dimensions."

There was silence for a moment, and then, "I think I might know how to get him back."

Both looked to Gale who stood as well.

"He made his decision," Trill said with a shake of her head. "There really isn't much we can do. Besides, they already have his data, so they can do whatever they like with it."

"True," Gale replied with a pause. "But we should rescue him for reasons other than his identity being discovered."

"That's too dangerous, Gale, and utterly worthless," Trill argued.

"Either help me, or be on your way," Gale snapped, facing the blue Navi, her eyes burning with determination.

The two Navis stared each other down for a few tense moments each thinking her way was the right one. True, Trill had grown unnaturally attached to Arrow as time had gone on, but she knew that there was no chance of rescuing him. Arrow in the possession of humans was just as bad as Red in their possession. Gale knew that despite Trill's optimism towards her condition, there was not much time left for her. Slowly her mind was tearing apart from her data, and soon she would be gone completely. Before that time came, she would fight until her last breath to ensure that Arrow got his freedom.

"I'll help you," Red offered tentatively. Would she accept help from him after all that he had done?

The two women snapped out of their trance and regarded him with stony expressions. Finally it was Trill who decided to speak up.

"I do not know what it was about Net City that made you turn against us, and it is unwise to bring you there again," she said.

Red swallowed and nodded in understanding. It would not make sense to place them in even more danger than this mission already would. If he could help by staying behind, he would.

Trill breathed a heavy sigh of resignation. "Unfortunately we don't have many other options. We could use the help, and so we will risk it."

OOO

**Sorry I have neglected this story. I really do have more of it to come! I keep dear to my heart, and as I was watching some of the old shows, I was motivated again to continue this story. Please excuse the shortness, but it's not over yet!**

R&R


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